"Godiva's Hymn", "Engineer's Hymn" or "Engineers' Drinking Song" is a traditional

drinking song A drinking song is a song that is sung before or during Alcoholic beverage, alcohol consumption. Most drinking songs are Folk music, folk songs or commercium songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyri ...

for North American engineers. Versions of it have been associated with the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, MTU, and various other universities, and is now often performed by the MIT a cappella group The Chorallaries. In many university

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

faculties, military engineering

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...

and other engineering organizations and

societies A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

Lady Godiva Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...

is a school icon or

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

. Godiva's Hymn is sung either to the tune of "

The Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is an American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe during the American Civil War. Howe adapted her song from the soldiers' song " John Brown's Body" in November 1861, and sold ...

" or "The Son of a Gambolier". Near Christmas, it is a tradition of the Lady Godiva Memorial Bnad nowiki/>sic">sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>sic">nowiki/>sicof the University of Toronto">sic">nowiki_>sic<_a>.html" ;"title="sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>sic">nowiki/>sic">sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>sic">nowiki/>sicof the University of Toronto to sing Godiva's Hymn to the tune of Good King Wenceslaus. One Version of the Chorus is as follows:

We are We are We are We are-- We are the engineers-- We can We can We can We can-- Demolish forty beers-- Drink rum Drink rum Drink rum all day-- and come along with us for-- We don't give a damn for any old man-- Who don't give a damn for us--

Four of Godiva's Verses:

Godiva was a lady who through Coventry did ride-- To show to all the villagers her fine and lily-white hide-- The most observant villager, an engineer of course-- Was the only one to notice that Godiva rode a horse--

Professors put demands on us, they say we have to tool,-- But all we want to do is sleep, we hate this fucking school.-- You can bitch or tell us off, even abuse us if you please,-- But we're all set to graduate, and all we need are C's!--

Venus is a statue made entirely of stone,-- There's not a fig leaf on her, she's as naked as a bone.-- On noticing her arms were gone, an Engineer discoursed,-- "The damn thing's busted concrete and it should be reinforced."--

An Engineer once came to class so drunk and very late,-- He stumbled through the lecture hall at an ever-diminishing rate.-- The only things that held him up and kept him on his course,-- Were the boundary condition and the electromotive force.--

UAlberta GNCTR Spirit

This is not a variant on Godiva’s hymn. This is an unrelated school fight song set to the same tune. UAlberta created three verses that revolved around their theme of WWSki. (Click on Citation)

We are, we are, the UofA we’re up against the ropes, But don’t get to excited cause we’re here to crush your hopes Prepare, prepare, prepare yourself we’re going to choke slam you Not only that, but we’ve been known to slam some v-gades too! Building sleds and throwing punches that is what we do If you challenge UofA then you better bring your crew Out shorts are tight our sled fast well leave you in the clear Oh no our Design forgot the parts, our toboggan doesn’t steer We're the ualberta wrestling crew, We're sure to pin you down; We like it rough and won't hold back we'll knock you all around; So throw your hat into the ring; to anyone who dares; You'll run out of challengers; Before we're out of chairs! Note: the toboggan in this song refers to the UofA long lasting concrete toboggan club

Michigan Technological University

The Huskies Pep Band often performs a variant of the Engineer's Song at most events. While keeping the basic roots of the original song, the band adds verses unique to the University; The chorus and verses recalling the lyricist’s rough beginnings as the child of a prostitute and a miner in Alaska remain staples of the Huskies Pep Band to this day. The Band adds a total of 3 verses to the original chorus.

Parody version

A bawdy parody of the engineer's song, known as Round and Round Went the Great Big Wheel, was famously recorded during the 1940s by Oscar Brand. It later served as the inspiration for an episode of

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References

{{reflist Traditions Drinking songs Institutional songs Songs with unknown songwriters Year of song unknown Cultural depictions of Lady Godiva